{"id":32685,"date":"2022-09-10T16:19:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/understanding-doctrine-is-bedrock-to-a-believers-spiritual-maturity\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:19:12","slug":"understanding-doctrine-is-bedrock-to-a-believers-spiritual-maturity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/understanding-doctrine-is-bedrock-to-a-believers-spiritual-maturity\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Doctrine Is Bedrock to a Believer\u2019s Spiritual Maturity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Ed Stetzer<\/em><\/p>\n

Doctrine. What images are conjured in your mind when you say that word? Dogmatic? Restrictive? Guarding? Defining?<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly there are those who cringe at the word. I have personally talked with many believers who have felt burned by Christian leaders incessantly demanding conformity to doctrine.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there are those who have walked into a greater freedom and understanding of God\u2019s mission and His call on their life as they embraced the fundamental doctrines of faith.<\/p>\n

While some data from the doctrine research may jump out as affirming\u2014such as that the majority of churchgoers (75 percent) strongly hold the God of the Bible is not the same god worshiped in other world religions\u2014the overall doctrine scores in the Transformational Discipleship research show that as many as 1 in 3 churchgoers have not embraced basic truths that are considered fundamental to the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

Some may say they are most comfortable articulating the gospel by sharing grace, but I contend that understanding doctrine should be bedrock for a believer\u2019s ongoing process of maturation. The core definition of \u201cdoctrine,\u201d after all, simply means \u201cteaching,\u201d or \u201cthat which is taught.\u201d<\/p>\n

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If we are to grow in our devotion to King Jesus and share the gospel from neighbor to nation, it is essential we are able to grasp and articulate the doctrinal truths of the gospel.<\/p>\n

My friend David Hesselgrave, who spent 12 years as a missionary in Japan and is professor emeritus of mission at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill., contributed an essay titled \u201cThe Authority of Scripture and the Christian Mission\u201d for the Mission of God Study Bible that Philip Nation and I served as co-editors.<\/p>\n

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See also  Is It \u2018Ministry Failure\u2019 To See a Counselor?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Why is it important to believe Jesus is the only way to heaven; that the Bible is inspired by God and completely trustworthy, and that not all roads lead to heaven? David communicates this so clearly in his essay: \u201c\u2026[T]he Bible is profitable for the man of God because when God\u2019s messenger employs Scripture in the foregoing ways he himself is made \u2018complete\u2019 or \u2018competent\u2019 and \u2018equipped for every good work\u2019 (2 Timothy 3:17).\u201d<\/p>\n

He also writes: \u201cThe Apostle Paul says, \u2018All Scripture is inspired by God\u2019 (2 Timothy 3:16). The Greek word theopneustos literally means \u2018breathed out\u2019 by God. Because that is so, God intends Scripture to be carefully expounded, faithfully obeyed and fervently defended.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all of us, whether pastor or member, security of calling and understanding is found in one place\u2014delving into the God-breathed pages of Scripture, whose teaching (or doctrine)\u2014equips and completes us for every good work.<\/p>\n

Ed Stetzer is the former president of Lifeway Research.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community The Dog Ate My Doctrine: Leaving No Place in Our Pews for Theological Laziness <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ed Stetzer Doctrine. What images are conjured in your mind when you say that word? Dogmatic? Restrictive? Guarding? Defining? Undoubtedly there are those who cringe at the word. I have personally talked with many believers who have felt burned by Christian leaders incessantly demanding conformity to doctrine. On the other hand, there are those … Continue reading “Understanding Doctrine Is Bedrock to a Believer\u2019s Spiritual Maturity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}